Thursday, September 15, 2011

Unto the Locust(s)

Got in a second game with the list for the weekend tonight, this time against my all time worst match-up, Imperial Guard. It wasn't leaf-blower, but I had beaten it before with my Eldar and knew it had enoguh Ordnance to scare me with enough Lascannons and Melta to boot, so the Land Raider wasn't feeling too good about it.

We rolled up Dawn of War Capture and Control with him placing his objective just off of a crater while I placed mine behind an impassable building. He got to go first and so deployed the Infantry Platoon, Company Command Squad and Chimera spread across his deployment. I chose to deploy a Razorback, a unit of Purifiers and the OXI and hid them out behind the same building my objective was behind. I chose not to try and steal initiative so as to waste his first turn of shooting.

Turn 1

Mike moved on his army with one Demolisher going over on his far right flank beyond the building and an empty Valkyrie also coming in on that side. Everything else moved in the centre bar the other two Valkyrie's (with Plasma and Melta Vets in each) Flat Out along his left flank. He tried some shooting but couldn't see threw the dark of night.

I decided based on his Demolisher positions that weighing toward my right flank would be best to avoid as much ordnance as possible in the early turns putting only a Dread and the Vindicare out to the left. I brought my army on moving all 3 Razorbacks full steam ahead while popping smoke. The Land Raider also moved at cruising. The Ven Dread and other remaining Dread moved on the far right, right on front of the two Valkyries. The Grey Knight's sight proved better as only the Land Raider failed to see its target however Mike managed to pass all of his Flat Out cover saves, and the Dread on the left fluffed it.

Turn 2

Glad that the night had lifted the Guard pressed on with their attack. All 3 Valkyries advanced at cruising speed so as to fire off some missiles. The Demolisher on Mike's far right moved at cruising speed around the building to try get closer to the centre of the board as the Chimera moved ahead of it. The other Demolisher and the Punisher moved ahead just enough to make better firing arcs. The Melta Vets also dropped out of the Valkyrie in order to try Melta the Land Raider.

In a surprising turn of events, despite hitting twice they failed to penetrate it. Similarly the Valkyries all missed their targets however the Chimera managed to wound the Assassin with its Multi-Laser right before a shell from the lead Demolisher exploded the lead Razorbck, killing a Purifier in the process. Taking its cue the Punisher reared up and let loose at the survivors, however despite the amount of shots it was able to pump out, a Psycannon Purifier and the Inquisitor survived. The Infantry Squad guarding the IG objective then used First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire to take them down. The Lascannon teams on the left also managed to shake the Razorback on that side, while the team on the right blew the Lascannon off the other Razorback as it failed all its smoke saves just like the others.

The Terminators bailed from the Land Raider who moved up only 6" seeing an opportunity. The east-most Dread moved in toward the lead Valkyrie while the west-most Dread moved through the cover toward the Valkyrie on that side. The remaining two Razorbacks moved at cruising speed again, now only a short distance from the Imperial Guards' lines.

The Vindicare opened up the shooting phase by blowing up the lead Demolisher, killing two Infantrymen and the Vox Caster from the HQ Squad. The Land Raider followed up, kicking up the Machine Spirit to fire at two targets using one Lascannon to explode the Punisher and the other to immobolise the lead Valkyrie. The Dread near it continued the assault but only managed to Shake it, while the Venerable Dread failed to hurt the Valkrie behind. On the other side the last Dread immobolised and shook the last Valkyrie. The Terminators had no interest in shooting however and assaulted the Veterans in the wood, annihilating them with ease and consolidating toward the enemy. The Dread over there also assaulted the now immobolised Valkyrie but to no avail, only shaking it more.

Turn 3

With two of the Valkyries now neutralised the last moved Flat Out over the forest to try and deliver more Vets to my objective. The Chimera continued to advance so the Demolisher could move out. Everything else stayed still. The Demolisher continued to show its worth now wrecking another Razorback while a stray Grenade exploded the other, killing one of the disembarking Purifiers in the process. Not much else was effected by the Guards' shooting however.

The Land Raider zoomed passed the Purifiers who ran up behind it and jumped in the side hatch just as it stopped. Crowe and the Ven Dread moved toward the remaining Valkyrie while the other Dreads lingered for options. The Terminators moved out of the forest and combined power with the Land Raider to wipe out the Lascannons team nestled in the eastern corner's crater. The Purifiers from the wrecked Razorback moved away from their wrecked vehicle toward the Guards' lines and tried running but didn't get very far.

The Vindicare continued his streak of marksmanship by exploding the Chimera, the flames engulfing two of the Special Weapons crew inside. The Dread in the West decided to finish off the Valkyrie near him as he had no other viable targets. The Ven Dread and supporting Dread in the East failed to pass the Valkyrie's cover save and so the Ven Dread and Crowe assaulted. They managed to stun and shake the vehicle, but the Plasma Vets inside remained safe.

Turn 4

With the Grey Knights finally closing in the Guard scrambled to take them down. The Plasma Vets jumped from the Valkyrie moving over to my objective. The now disembarked Special Weapons crew moved toward the Vindicare, as the Infantry Platoon all shuffled to try stay back from the Grey Knight charge.

The Demolisher started shooting by blowing the Dreadnought nearby up in an impressive gout of flame and metal. The Infantry Platoons many unit all opened up on the Purifiers on foot and managed to kill 4 of them, leaving one Psycannon totter left. That was all that happened however as even though the Plasma Vets wounded Crowe four times he passed all of his Invulnerable saves.

Finally in range the Purifiers ran down the ramp of the Land Raider and towards the nearest infantry squad. Its cargo now delivered the Land Raider got into gear and tank shocked 12" straight through 2 Infantry Squads causing one to panic and run off the board. It then unloaded its Heavy Bolters killing the Melta Gun and Medi-Pack from the HQ Squad. The lone Purifier made a bee-line for the Vets and the Termintors moved and ran inward.

The lone Dread tried to finish off the fresh Valkyrie but only managed to immobolise it. The Vindicare also immboloised the remaining Demolisher, however nothing else shot. Their war cries aloud the Grey Knight finally charged. Crowe and the Ven Dread charged the Vets killing 4 for no wounds in return, however the Guard held. The lone Purifier contacted the Vets in the north and summoned a Cleansing Flame that killed 5 of them, however he fell in the process. The other unit of Purifiers took down 8 of the Infantry between their flame and their attacks, breaking them and sending them packing, consolidating behind the Land Raider for safety.

Turn 5

Things were looking grim for the Imperial Guard who needed to really pull it back to get the win. All units moved in around the objective that could. The Lascannon team started by trying to take out the Land Raider but failed. The Plasma Vets then opened fire on the Terminators using First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire for extra Lasgun shots, and managed to kill off the Justicar and the Banner Bearer. The Demolisher then opened up and rolling a direct hit and then 3 6's (a double for Ordnance and then Damage) blew up the Land Raider taking out two Purifiers and two Vets in the explosion. The wall put up by the Grey Knights to stay safe while holding the objective was now gone. The Special Weapons managed to force the Vindicare to ground to ensure his survival (which proved unnecessary).

Meanwhile Crowe and the Dreadnought cleaned up the last of the Vets in the south consolidating back to their old positions.

The Grey Knights were now in danger of losing out and needed to go on the offensive once again and hope for the turn 5 finish. The last two Purifiers moved in on the Platoon Command Squad, shooting down two and killing two more in the assault for one in return. It was enough however as the last man left the field and the last Purifier consolidated 3" between the objective and the rest of the Imperial Guard to try speed bump them. The Terminators also moved in on the Vets, shooting down two and killing the last in combat, before consolidating into the crater and next to the objective.

Unfortunately for me, the game went on.

Turn 6-7

The last two turns proved decisive. The last remaining Infantry squad assaulted the Purifier and though losing 3 of their number managed to kill him and consolidate to the crater and objective. The Terminators also took 4 Lascannons to the face killing them despite going to ground.

Return fire killed 2 of the 7 Infantry but the morale check was passed and in turn 7 only one more went down after the Demolisher managed to Lascannon snipe a Dreadnought despite losing its Demolisher Cannon previously to the Vindicare. The Imperial Guard had held the field though a hollow victory it would be for what did it cost?

Conclusions

That was a super fun game and despite losing I was pretty happy with the result. Going into the game, it being Grey Knights versus Guard after all, I was expecting to lose but hoping I could at least draw; having the game won in turn 5 but narrowly losing it due to the game continuing is about as close to a win as you get without actually getting it so I was pretty chuffed. Totting up there was a 5pts VP difference in my favour, meaning tournament wise it was a straight 15-5 to Mike.

I think I played the list much better, and playing the Land Raider right made a huge difference. The Land Raider and the Vindicare were without a doubt the MVPs of the match. The Vindicare disposed of two tanks completely and neutralised another, earning back at least double his points value. The Land Raider was instrumental in the successful assault on the IG lines, getting the Purifiers in safe while tank shocking to break the line and creating a huge line of sight blocker for the objective has it not gotten blown up when it did.

I am certainly happy with the list and look forward to how it will do at the weekend.

Exactly. The game has got me thinking though exactly how would I have dealt with it if it were Seize Ground and not Capture and Control. As the game progressed there was no way for the Purifiers to do anything without also spending a turn in harm's way (and this is always the case against Guard). So assumnig Seize Ground was rolled, do you reckon it would have been a 'play for a draw' game?

Against that list? Yes. It's the Demolisher Cannons that mean you can't get out of your raider and can't move the raider too close. You could spend the entire time crippling his troops and hope he can't take enough objectives. Would be interesting.